astronomy in reverse
by synodics
Summary: It's love that brings him in and opens him up.


**notes** : a renruki that literally came out of nowhere, i have _a lot_ of feelings for these two, and i'm _so_ happy for them.  
 **notes2** : writing tortured renji is one of my fave things, how sadistic of me.  
 **notes3** : inspired by we do knot always love you novel & the sleeping at last song. sorry if this is all over the place.

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 **I**

It's love that brings him in and opens him up, unfurling like the flower in her hands, the gentle upturn smile she has, and it is love that makes him blink in surprise, as it glistens in her tiny hand.

He looks away, with cheeks aflame and his heart pattering.

Renji gulps and tucks it away. _It's nothing, that's all it is_.

 **II**

They've lost a lot these few years, and he can't recall a time when he felt happy, which is weird because he thought he was, until the few of them passed on and all that was left was him and Rukia.

She stands atop cliff, the crosses amongst the pile of dirt of their once friends, the one's who stayed with them through thick and thin, who fought tooth and nail to survive.

Rukia doesn't speak for a very long time, and he stands beside her, his iron will never wavering, until she speaks and it makes his resolve slacken. "Let's become soul reapers."

He squints as the sun is going down, and the horizon bursts with hues of orange, as Rukia continues: "Then we can live inside the seireitei, they say life's better in there."

He agrees, as he echoes Rukia's earlier words. "Yeah, let's become soul reapers."

 **III**

Renji passes his secondary exams, and he runs hurriedly down the halls of the Academy, searching for her. _Why is it always him that tries to look for her?_ He shakes the thoughts away as he figures out where she is, bursting open the shoji.

"Rukia! I passed! How do you like that! If I pass the next one…" Renji trails off as Rukia looks at him with skeptical eyes and four men flanked at her side, one he recognizes, as an aristocrat. Something clenches painfully inside of him and his ears begin to ring.

The older man says something to Rukia that leaves her with a heavy look on her back, like a shadow looming. Renji's breath is caught from him as the aristocratic man walks past him, his spiritual pressure suffocating causing sweat to form on his forehead.

From by his side, Rukia gently says his name and it causes him to look up and begin talking, his voice sounds off; Rukia notices this and says the thing he never realized would cause him to feel everything from his stomach to his heart to drop pitifully.

"They said I'm to be adopted into the Kuchiki family," she continues, and Renji can't catch his thoughts. He cuts her off and sputters nonsense, with false joy and Rukia always sharp, all knowing, realizes that as she places a hand on his arm and lowers it.

The "thanks" falls short, and she walks off without another word.

Renji is left with his heart in his hands.

 **IV**

As an orange haired, loud mouthed boy becomes someone that binds him and the one person he loves together again, he never would've thought it could happen in that way. The bond was never severed.

So he shuts his eyes and wishes there was something he could've done differently; maybe to become a man worthy of walking by Rukia's side.

He distanced himself from her, for a long time, but his love for her still would bubble inside him. Renji thought it would fade, but it never did, it binds him to her. It's the one string he can't cut off, it was already there from day one.

 **V**

Renji gives her a side eyed look, as Rukia's small smile is there, a soft look in her eyes and it makes his heart soar; as cliché as it sounds, it causes him reach out taking her hand, she grasps it tightly.

"Are you nervous?" He teases, and Rukia surprising him like she always does, with watery eyes looks up at him, it causes his breath to catch as he looks at her with intense eyes, trying to cover up the light blush.

"No, just happy." She squeezes his hand tightly, and he touches her face gently, as she leans into it.

His heart resting in her hands, as he kisses her forehead.

"Thank you, Rukia."

 _fin_

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thanks for reading!


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